Experiment to see if your mail is being tapped by the gov't

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http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/23/experiment_to_see_if.html

 

 

Experiment to see if your mail is being tapped by the gov't

Richard M. Smith of ComputerBytesMan has come up with a " quick and easy method

to see if one's email messages are being read by someone else. "

 

1. Set up a Hotmail account.

 

2. Set up a second email account with a non-U.S. provider. (eg. Rediffmail.com)

 

3. Send messages between the two accounts which might be interesting to the

NSA.

 

4. In each message, include a unique URL to a Web server that you have access

to its server logs. This URL should only be known by you and not linked to from

any other Web page. The text of the message should encourage an NSA monitor to

visit the URL.

 

5. If the server log file ever shows this URL being accessed, then you know

that you are being snooped on. The IP address of the access can also provide

clues about who is doing the snooping.

 

The trick is to make the link enticing enough for someone or something to want

to click on it. As part of a large-scale research project, I would suggest

sending out a few hundred thousand messages using various tricks to find one

that might work.

 

As Dave Farber notes: " It is not a good idea to try this if you hope to ever

again fly on an American airline without first being strip-searched by the TSA

monkeys. " Link

http://www.computerbytesman.com/privacy/emailsnooping.htm